Special Report: 17th CPC National Congress

    BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of 518,484 members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) were punished according to Party disciplines from December 2002 to June 2007, says a report of the Party's discipline watchdog released here Friday.

    The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC on Friday published the full text of its report submitted to the 17th CPC National Congress, which closed on Oct. 21.

    Summing up the CCDI's work in the past five years since November 2002 when the 16th CPC Central Committee was formed, the report says that the CCDI has made major progress in "digging out big graft cases, improving supervision system, curbing commercial bribery and correcting malpractice harming the interests of the people" under the principle of curbing corruption by both punitive and preventive measures.

    From December 2002 to June 2007, the CPC's disciplinary organs across the country registered 677,924 cases and settled 679,846 ones including those registered before 2002, the report says.

    In the past five years, the CPC has also disciplined several senior officials including former Shanghai Party head Chen Liangyu, former deputy secretary of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee Du Shicheng, and former head of the State Food and Drug Administration Zheng Xiaoyu.

    Zheng was sentenced to death by a court after being found guilty of taking 6.49 million yuan (850,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes and dereliction of duty in May this year and executed two months later.

    The officials were caught abusing their power for their own profit and some had colluded with crooked businessmen and gangsters, the report says.

    The CCDI has launched several initiatives against offences including taking bribery such as cash, securities and vouchers, indulging spouses, children and close staff with bribery and gambling, the report says.

    Based on complaints from citizens, the discipline organs targeted the education administration and medical service for overcharging, as well as malpractice in land use, relocation projects, restructuring of state-owned enterprises, environmental protection and management of social security funds.

    Several key measures were adopted to tighten the supervision on officials, the report says.

    The regulation on inner-Party supervision was issued and the code on Party discipline was amended while the CCDI sent its inspectors across the country to find out the problems.

    The CCDI also worked closely with other departments to close the loopholes in policies of administrative approval, fiscal management, promotion of officials, the judicial system, public bidding and government purchasing.

    "But corruption occurs frequently in some departments and regions. A few senior officials involved in corruption scandals have left a very bad impression. A small proportion of officials are caught by bureaucracy and indulge themselves with luxury and entertainment," the report says.

    Some anti-corruption rules and laws are not well implemented and the discipline organs are not well prepared for new types of graft, according to the report.

    A regulation issued by the CCDI in May listed "new forms of bribery" such as taking stocks and shares as gifts, buying houses or cars at ridiculously low prices from those who ask them for favors, laundering bribes by gambling and asking bribers to arrange jobs after retirement and seeking profits through "specially-related persons", referring to close family members, relatives, lovers and people sharing joint interests.

    The report said the investigations into corruption cases serve as significant measures of punishment, as well as important conditions for corruption prevention.

    "We should establish effective long-term systems of anti-corruption education and supervision over administrative power," read the report.

    The report advocated democracy and supervision as powerful weapons against corruption. "We should increase inner-Party democracy and inner-Party supervision to promote democracy and supervision at all aspects," said the report.

    It's a good way to fight against corruption through enhancing the transparency of Party affairs and making Party members better participate in Party affairs to ensure their rights.